


Fool's Paradise

by koanju (verstehen)



Category: Chaos;Child
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21836281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verstehen/pseuds/koanju
Summary: Onoe Serika, in the laboratory, with the Di-sword.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Fool's Paradise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VoyagerWisp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoyagerWisp/gifts).



> I actually had real trouble with this because I always felt that Serika's story was fairly complete, barring one big question. That question became the central theme of this story. 
> 
> I hope you like it!

Serika taped her fingers impatiently at the gaunt figure in the hospital bed. For so many years her existence and purpose had been tied up in the hands of this boy and his power, whether he knew it consciously or not. Taku had wanted to be special _so_ much and he never even seemed to realize the origin of that drive; he just wanted to be noticed.

Once, when she was still imaginary before the earthquake, he had asked her if he should go the police about her “abusive parents.” “But did that really happen?” Serika muttered to the boy in the bed as he slept. “I’m not real and that happened before you _made_ me real.” She frowned at her friend. “But is it really an _imaginary_ conversation if we both remember it? If it’s part of my past now?” Serika shook her head. “Taku, you make everything too complicated!” she complained and reached out to poke his forehead in revenge.

Her hand slid through like a ghost.

“Dummy,” she told him. “Hurry up and wake up. I’m bored, Taku, and I bet you are too.”

Serika waited several seconds but received no response. She sighed again and pulled her legs up to her chest, tucking her feet against the edge of the chair. “Hey, Taku, do you think I’m actually sitting in this chair or do you think I’m actually floating in the air or something else?” Still no answer. “I guess it doesn’t matter.” She paused and looked up at the room’s ceiling and idly counted the tiles in a row. “After all, I failed, right? I made you the villain in the end.” She looked down at the straps tied around his slowly-shrinking wrist and connecting him to the bed. “Even if you do wake up, you’re going to jail for what Sakuma and I did.” She poked his forehead again.

Still sliding through like a ghost.

Serika stared at Taku, her reason for existence even in this half-life, and wondered if there was any way to borrow his power. If he hadn’t real-booted the Serika that wasn’t actually _her_ , neither of them would be in this situation. “Maybe I’ll just fade away like a real ghost!” Serika was a little surprised at how cheery her voice was at the thought of completely disappearing. “But who would keep you entertained?” She laughed a little. “Nono? She’s gone! Ito? Sure, maybe, he made a great support character, Taku! You sure know how to pick ‘em. But he’s got his own problems right now and it will take him a long time to get over seeing Yuri’s blood on his hands.” She looked over at the door briefly but it remained closed. The nurses didn’t like coming into Taku’s room more than absolutely necessary and Serika found _she_ didn’t want the doctors coming around either. Frankly, she was fairly sure that Takuru didn’t feel anything that they were doing – this last round of doctors and tests and mentioned something about a 3 on the Glasgow coma scale and even Serika knew _that_ was a bad sign – but she didn’t like them touching her friend. Not with cold instruments and greedy hands, anyway. Not when Takuru couldn’t say no.

She learned forward and whispered to him, “Let me tell you a secret, Taku.” She wished she had her strap to focus on. She always worked better when she had something in her hands; whether it was the strap Taku gave her or her Di-sword. “I didn’t feel anything, Taku, except pride. I knew this would interest you; I knew you could solve the case. Doing it gave you everything you wanted, deep down.”

She leaned even further, placing her lips right next to his ear. “You made me this way, Taku.” Serika smiled happily at her friend and stood up. “Hey, why don’t I go find us something else to investigate? That way when you do wake up, we can immediately get on the case!” She giggled. “The coolest thing about being in this state is that I can walk through walls and doors if I want to. I bet I could walk right into the police station and find us a case now!” Her grin faltered a little as she looked down at Taku. “I wouldn’t have to create a case for you now.”

Serika swallowed again, her mouth dry. Or at least _feeling_ dry; it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t. That was, of all the strange things about her new situation, the strangest. “You know, Taku? I always knew what I was, what purpose I had. Even when you didn’t. I knew. I suppose I’m now a proper delusion,” she noted and started pacing around the room. “I wonder if that girl knows who and what she is? What she was made for?” Serika stopped walking and looked back at the boy on the bed and finally asked the thing she had been wondering since Takuru had been taken into this lab underneath the school. Since the end of his fight with both her and Sakuma.

“Hey, Taku, why did you real-boot her wrong?” The words came out quiet and solemn. Serika knew Takuru couldn’t hear her and couldn’t answer. That was part of the reason why she felt safe asking. “You made the other Serika _real_ but you didn’t make her _me_. She’s not right!” Her voice rose with each word until she was shouting at the silent, sleeping boy in the bed. Serika gasped for breath after her outburst and turned her back on Takuru. “You made me wrong then and now you think a Serika without my memories and without my purpose is _right_?” Her hands clenched into fists as she listened to the quiet noises of the machines keeping Takuru alive.

Maybe she would fix that. The other Serika. Maybe Serika – both of them – could still be of use.

Serika smiled slyly and looked over her shoulder, one last time, at Takuru. “Don’t worry, Taku! I’ll make sure that girl comes here. We’ll all get what we deserve then!”

With that, Serika pushed her way through the laboratory door, leaving him and her past behind.


End file.
